La Baciarlata

Pittsburgh, PA on the 6th of September

It was a small rock club called "The Electric Banana". Also played Half Life and White Wreckage as you can see in the flier. Big city.

Cleveland, OH on the 7th of September

The final gig. During or just before their set the RAW POWER guys had a very verbal argument with Davide, very apparently about the few metal licks he had been adding in during the tour. I could tell it was a bit more metal than they had from the You Are the Victim LP or from their Brown Studio demo or their Last White Christmas set from 12-4-83 which, really, barely had any flavor of metal at all really. Cleveland was a dirty industrial city with some redeeming features. It was a nice little show at a medium sized rock club.

Chicago, IL on the 31st of August

At Tuts, I believe with 7 SECONDS. That evening we stayed at the small apartment of two metal heads who loved RAW POWER. It was in a huge single building of apartments. As we were ready to sleep Mauro asked me if I could ask the guys if we could turn off the TV. They said they never ever turned it off because it helped keep away burglars when they weren't there and they liked it on when they were. They let us turn it off that night. I think that was an evening where Davide found a friendly girl. He seemed eager to find such companionship whenever he could during the tour. I think he was the only guy to do that. Maybe 1 or 2 other guys had 1 or 2 dates during the whole rest of the tour. I mentioned to the guys while in we were on the road about that time about sexually transmitted dieases and Mauro joked saying we could call this tour the RAW POWER Diease Tour. Near the end of the tour I interviewed most of RAW POWER for about fifteen minutes. I don't remember where that tape deck came from but GTA ended up using 5 minutes of that interview on the Burn the Factory RAW POWER cd.

Detroit on the 1st of September

The place was called Asylium. The promoter was the only non punk to put on a show for the tour, I believe. And he illegally sold alcohol to minors, very brazenly. The cops came and shut down the show just before it ended and we ended up not getting one cent from the promoter. It was at a small rock club. Detroit seemed dangerous, it had that vibe, but we didn't see anything that made us think that...

Indianapolis on the 2nd of September

The gig was at Modern Times. The following day the studio session of Screams from the gutter took place at the Toxic Shock. Such a great album was recorded only in one day!!

Cincinnati, OH on the 4th of September

At the Jockey Club which was actually across the river from Cincinatti in Newport, KY. There were about 75 punx there that night. It was a fairly dreary neighborhood and the club was sorta big.

Morgantown, West Virginia on the 5th of September

It was a college town. This was maybe the most beautiful part of the country we went to. The people spoke slower, more relaxed I think than in California. And it was one of the best shows of the tour, I think, because the punx there were so good to us. I have a real bad back and I was able to do a bit of slamming at that show because the town was so small, the whole punk scene knew each other and they were able to have me slam while not letting me get hurt. The gig was during the early evening I think, I remember the windows had the sun coming in. It was the only soundboard recording we got from the tour besides the Cinncinati show.

El Paso, TX on the 24th of August

With the RHYTHM PIGS: Ed of that band put on the show. It was the smalled gig of the tour. Maybe 35 punx there. The there was actually the trailer part of a big rig truck without the front part of the truck. Only these bands played. It was outside the city. El Paso reminded me of Fresno as both seemed like the armpit of their states. Nice but, well, no real reason to be there I could see. I realize now this was actually the other outdoor gig because the bands played from the back of the truck trailer with the 2 big doors open while the punx listening stood on the ground in front of it. A nice clear night. That night we had what could have been a disaster. All during the tour I was a bit of a mother hen making sure that everyone stayed together and didn't wander off anywhere. Well, that night after the gig Davide and one or two other RAW POWER boys went with someone to Mexico which was just a few miles away. El Paso in Texas shares the U.S./Mexican border with Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez and that's apparently where the guys went. No one had cell phones or pagers. We had no idea where they were or if or when we would ever see them again. As it turned out, it was no problem, they came wandering back after some good time visit in Mexico I think early the next morning and barely in time to leave to the next city, I think.

Oklahoma City, OK on the 27th of August

At the Native American Center - with whom? Oklahoma City had a great vibe to the local scene. Like the other smaller scenes most punx seemed to generally know each other. We had a giant lightening storm that night and I've never before or since seen lightening big and bright and strong shoot directly into the ground. Fortunately, I wasn't near where it landed and I only hoped I wouldn't and I wondered why the locals didn't seem like chickens with their heads cut off worrying about it. But it passed and apparently, uneventfully. This was another of about 20 of the 40 nights that we got to spend at a punk's home. Really learned to appreciate basic bathroom access and a simple shower.

We miraciously ran into a couple, a guy and his Japanese American girlfriend who owned a big 'ol Buick and an old van. Just as we had to turn in the Hertz rental, they joined the tour and let us use those 2 vehicles for the rest of the tour. Essentially, they saved the last part of the tour. I can never thank them enough.They were very nice. However, the van engine blew up after half the time using it. So, I had to get it repaired, which I did and we went on. If I hadn't brought my credit card the tour would have ended there, much less renting the Hertz van.